IBM Totally Disses Sun: Report

Updated from 12:47 p.m. EDT

Sun Microsystems(JAVA) is willing to give it another go with IBM, according to Bloomberg, which says that the firm wants IBM(IBM) to make a firmer commitment to complete its acquisition.

IBM, however, is not interested in Sun at any price, according to a CNBC report, due to the intense regulatory pressure that would accompany a marriage of the two tech leviathans.

Sun and IBM have not yet responded to the TheStreet.com's request for comment on the status of their relationship, although shares of both companies crept up in Thursday trading, mirroring the broader advance in tech stocks that saw the Nasdaq rise 2.7%. Sun's shares rose 3.8% to $6.36, and IBM's stock rose 2.8% to $101.58.

An IBM takeover of Sun appeared imminent just a couple of weeks ago, although talks subsequently collapsed and IBM reportedly withdrew its offer. Price was apparently a major sticking point in the discussions, and IBM was rumored to have forced the value of the deal down.

With a possible purchase price of around $6.5 billion, Sun would be IBM's biggest-ever acquisition, although there is a feeling that the deal may not be the best move for the Armonk, N.Y.-based company. Among other worries, some say a Sun acquisition could distract IBM from its software and services businesses, which have helped the company weather the downturn in tech hardware spending

IBM would also have to make sense of the execution problems that have hampered Sun in recent years. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based firm struggled to swallow its acquisition of StorageTek in 2005, and it is seen as one of the tech sector's big underachievers.